Get Together

MU’s Collaborative Arts Initiative seeks out artists’ submissions

This fall, students with an interest in art, music or writing are being encouraged to take part in the new MU Collaborative Arts Initiative. Open to students from Mizzou, Columbia College and Stephens College, it will get artists to work across disciplines to produce new creative works.

The deadline to enter is Oct. 18, and in mid-November, three finalists from each category will be chosen by a panel of faculty members. There will be three teams — each comprised of a visual artist, composer and writer — who will then work together to come up with ideas for a collaborative work. Those pieces will be premiered at a recital on April 4, and the finalists will receive cash prizes.

The idea took off when Herd, a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity, brought the idea before a committee this past spring. They began working with another music fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota, and the Society of Composers to bring the project to fruition.

“We're very active in the School of Music, but we wanted to get involved in other areas of campus,” Herd says. “It was important to make it about art in general and the interaction between this different areas.”